Chongzhen rested his chin on his left hand and thought seriously.
The cabinet has been settled, the crown prince has been temporarily settled, and the money is there. The only trouble left is Li Zicheng.
Will Li Zicheng surrender?
Won't!
Not to mention what he did to the royal princes, just the two things he did, digging up the Ming ancestral tombs and proclaiming himself emperor in Shaanxi, he deserves to die a hundred times.
So he would never surrender, even if he surrendered it would only be a nominal surrender.
Since you won't surrender, we can only fight hard.
How come?
Win over the hearts of the people.
Without the support of the common people, the soldiers of the three major camps in the capital could not defend the city or stop the bandits.
But what the court had done before had already broken the hearts of the people.
Corvée, taxes, plague, refugees, natural disasters and man-made calamities.
The court did not handle any of these matters properly.
Governing the people requires both kindness and power, but these officials in the court only have power but no kindness.
The people are not fools and can tell who is good and who is bad; they are not masochists and will not help the abusers.
If you want to win the hearts of the people, you must take these factors into consideration.
"Lord Li, defending the city requires the support of the people. How do you think we can win their hearts?" Chongzhen asked.
Li Banghua already knew the content of the notice posted by the Jinyiwei, and he had also read the notice from the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen.
To be honest, he was shocked by Chongzhen's act of distributing money.
Throughout history, the imperial court has shown its compassion for the people in two ways: reducing or exempting taxes, and providing disaster relief and grain.
Giving money directly to the people is simply unheard of!
Not to mention the common people, even he, a senior official in the court, admired him very much.
He knew that whether giving money or killing corrupt officials, there was only one purpose: to win the hearts of the people.
"Your Majesty, I have read the notice posted outside and was quite moved. There is a poem about bandits circulating in the capital recently, and I guess it was written by Your Majesty."
Chongzhen said nothing, neither admitting nor denying!
"I think that giving money to the people of the capital to kill rats is a question that needs to be discussed. The nine frontier armies are already short of money. If the news that Your Majesty is giving money to the people gets out, I am afraid that the morale of the frontier troops will be unstable."
"The deficit of the border troops can be almost made up today. More than five million taels of silver were confiscated from the Duke Cheng's mansion yesterday."
"Five million taels?" Li Banghua widened his eyes, unable to believe it.
He knew that after the 15th year of Chongzhen, all officials were corrupt, but he did not expect that five million taels of silver could be found in just the Chengguo Mansion.
Why do we say that there is no one who is not greedy?
He once served as the Minister of War. The problem of the army eating empty salaries was not that it could not be solved, but that it could not be solved. The Ming army, which was short of salaries, raised the white flag everywhere. In order to win over the troops, the generals could only find ways to make money.
The easiest way is to draw a salary without doing anything.
Once the imperial court owed salaries, the money that had been used to pay the empty salaries could be used to provide subsidies and solve the problem temporarily.
Zhu Chunchen served as the governor of the Beijing camp for several years. Although he guessed that he would embezzle money, he did not expect the amount to be so large.
Seeing Li Banghua in a daze, Chongzhen ordered: "Lord Li, I am afraid that you will have trouble recruiting soldiers, so I have set up a stage near the Xisi Archway. You can recruit soldiers while watching the show in the Ministry of War."
"As for training troops... you are an expert, just do as you see fit."
"Yes... I'll do it right away." Li Banghua blinked his eyes, which were red due to lack of rest, and walked away.
Wang Chengen was relieved to see Chongzhen calm outside the palace gate. The emperor's ability to control people was many times better than before.
He vaguely felt that the emperor had changed.
No, it's growing up.
Although he did not receive a very orthodox education, he was very accurate in judging people.
The sky of Daming is getting brighter and brighter!
"Your Majesty, the Eastern Depot governor Wang Zhixin requests to see you." Chongzhen was just about to take a break when Wang Chengen's voice came from near the palace gate.
"Let him in."
Wang Zhixin hurriedly walked up to the hall and bowed his head.
After the ceremony, Wang Zhixin asked carefully: "Your Majesty, the Duke Dingguo's mansion has been surrounded by me all night. I wonder what your Majesty wants to do."
Chongzhen slammed the table so hard that the sound was so loud that Wang Zhixin fell to his knees.
"Order? You, the East Factory, can't solve the case without my order, right?"
"I have been on the throne for so many years, spent so much money, and supported so many people. Tell me what you want me to do?"
"Um?"
Wang Zhixin's forehead was covered with sweat. He knelt on the ground and kept wiping the sweat with his sleeves. "Your Majesty, I will do it right away."
After leaving the Qianqing Palace, Wang Zhixin stood there and thought for a while.
His purpose of coming here was not to be scolded, but to test Chongzhen's attitude.
If the emperor was displeased when Duke Dingguo was mentioned, then Duke Dingguo could be the murderer!
Evidence can be created at any time.
As a result, the emperor performed flawlessly!
This is a difficult situation.
Is Duke Dingguo the murderer? Which murderer would be so stupid as to hide in his own home and assassinate the emperor?
But.
If he is not the murderer, who is the real culprit behind the scenes?
The assassin is dead and the clues are gone.
Not to mention solving the case in three days, there's no chance of solving it even in thirty days.
Wang Zhixin suddenly felt a headache.
After thinking for a while, Wang Zhixin slapped his thigh and left in a hurry.
......
Outside the Bei'an Gate of the Imperial City, there is the Beizhenfusi Yamen.
Li Ruolian had just been promoted to commander of the Imperial Guard and was currently handling the tasks assigned to him by the emperor.
Chongzhen asked him to do three things.
The extermination of the entire family had been completed, and the letters imitating the handwriting of nobles and court officials had also been completed.
The last one is a bit more difficult, but I have almost finished checking it.
The development of commerce in the Ming Dynasty was ultimately due to the imperial court.
The amount of food, weapons, protective gear, and firearms consumed by the Ming Dynasty's nine frontier armies every year was astonishing, and in the early stage, they were mainly transported by military officers. But the disadvantage was that they went full and returned empty, and the cost remained high.
Later, in order to ease the cost pressure, they entrusted the transportation to caravans, which were equipped with military officers and soldiers to ensure safety.
Over time, these caravans gained privileges.
The main ones are Shanxi merchants, Qi merchants, Hui merchants, Zhejiang merchants and so on.
Li Ruolian looked through the information obtained by the Jinyiwei.
There were three merchants from Jiangsu and Zhejiang who transported grain and fodder to the Ministry of Revenue. They had close contacts with the Vice Minister of Revenue Wang Zhengzhi, the Vice Minister of Supply Wang Aoyong, and the former Minister of War Zhang Jinyan.
There were more than ten businesses that transported armor, weapons, and firearms to the Ministry of Works. They had a special relationship with the former Minister of Works Zhang Fengxiang and the former Minister of War Zhang Jinyan.
"It seems... His Majesty has already noticed that there is something wrong with them!"
While I was looking through the information, a Jinyiwei came in to report the news.
"Commander-in-chief, the governor of the Eastern Depot is here, he..." Before the Jinyiwei who brought the news could finish his words, Wang Zhixin walked in with a swagger.
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